Judge Halts Construction On ICE Conversion Of Maryland Warehouse
A federal judge has issued a restraining order to temporarily halt construction of a planned U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in western Maryland on Wednesday, citing concerns about the facility's potential environmental impacts.
U.S. District Judge Brendan A. Hurson issued a 14-day hold on construction at the 830K SF warehouse in Williamsport that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security purchased in January for $102.4M. The ruling came a day after Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown filed an emergency motion to halt construction of the 1,500-bed facility, The Washington Post reported.
As part of his ruling, Hurson said the federal agencies did not “appear to have taken a ‘hard look’ at the potential environmental consequences of their plans for the Williamsport Warehouse.” The judge, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, also expressed concerns that the facility’s infrastructure wasn’t up to the task of supporting the projected number of detainees.
A statement released by Brown's office on Tuesday expressed concern that DHS and ICE overstepped by failing to conduct a proper study of the permanent ramifications renovations would have on the local environment, saying the facility threatens the state’s waterways, endangered species and communities with “irreversible harm.”
A DHS spokesperson questioned the legitimacy of the environmental concerns.
“Let’s be honest about this. This ruling isn’t about the environment,” the spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Bisnow. “It’s about trying to stop President Trump from making America safe again.”
“We will not let DHS and ICE rush through the proper legal process in their haste to ramp up deportations," Brown's office stated in a Wednesday press release.
DHS previously told Bisnow that its facilities would operate as “very well-structured detention facilities meeting our regular detention standards.”
The Maryland attorney general's office sued ICE and DHS in February, alleging the federal agencies didn’t follow mandatory review processes before purchasing the warehouse. The lawsuit seeks to block construction at the warehouse and have the purchase vacated.
“Though temporary, this ruling stops the construction of this massive immigration detention center while our lawsuit continues to play out in court,” Brown said in a statement following Hurson's Wednesday ruling.
The Maryland facility is part of ICE’s $38.3B plan to build out a 92,600-bed detention network to house immigrants awaiting deportation. A Bisnow investigation found more than $700M in DHS deals to purchase eight properties across six states — the number is now more than $900M and 10 properties.
The White House is seeking 3,000 daily arrests of people suspected of being in the U.S. without proper authorization.
As the government’s detention network expands, municipalities have passed moratoriums, amended zoning codes and raised infrastructure capacity concerns to try to block ICE facilities.
Federal lawmakers have also introduced bills designed to restrict DHS property acquisitions.
While those pressures have scuttled deals in places such as Mississippi, Utah, Tennessee and New Hampshire, a seller in New Jersey implied the government threatened the use of eminent domain to secure a property. Under the U.S. Constitution's Supremacy Clause, state and local governments have limited authority to prevent the construction of federal facilities on federal property.
